– Get better soon Sopi!

– I’m more or less back to full speed. Look for new strips next week. I have a new doctor and my ongoing medical condition is under control. Thank you all for all the support these last few weeks. I appreciate it.

–  The last few weeks I’ve been looking hard at Patreon. It’s a crowd funding site focusing on patronage. If you’re not familiar with the site they have a great video on their front page that explains the whole thing. The site allows users to support artists they like through direct patronage, giving a set amount each time I create new content. For example, if you like Modest Medusa and want to give it some support (and you totally don’t have to!) you can choose to contribute a dollar for every month of comics I do. or 50 cents. Or 10 bucks. The money goes to me at the end of the month. Now I’ll be doing this comic no matter what, even if no one contributes, and it’ll always be free to everyone. That’s important. But extra money from Patreon means I’ll have more time to spend working on comics. It’ll allow me to do more small projects like the 24 hour comics and the Squid comic, and more big stuff like Ghost Kiss or Animal Crime. More Medusa comics as well. It’ll also give me time to do stuff like live draw and google+ hang outs. Plus I could get rid of the ads on the site. Anyway, that’s the idea. I’ve talked about this a little bit on Facebook and Google+ this week, but I’d like to hear what the rest of you think.

This would be separate from kickstarter, where Kickstarter is specifically about getting books printed. Patreon would be about making Modest Medusa (and other comics) a sustainable thing that I could continue to do for years. And again, it’s important to note that this would be for people who want to support Modest Medusa in this way. I’m not entitled to support at all and I don’t expect it, but I always appreciate it. A lot of you support the comic by buying books, doing fan art, spreading links or supporting my kickstarter projects. I don’t want any of you to feel obligated to support my work through Patreon. It’ll be there for people who are interested.

Okay, so listen to this part: Right now Jonathan Rosenberg (of Scenes from a Multiverse) is asking his readers to give $X per month of comics he does. That means that each of his patrons ha agreed to give him X amount of dollars every month, as long as he makes a month worth of comics. Patrons can choose how much they want to give. One might choose to give $1 for a month of comics, while another might choose $50. If Jonathan skips a month, no one gives him any money. That’s how it works.

Right now Kenno Arkkan (of My Life With Fel) is doing the same thing, except he’s asking his patrons to give for each page/strip he posts. So instead of giving for a full month of comics, his patrons are giving per strip. His patrons can choose to give 10 cents a strip, or 10 bucks a strip. I have no idea how often Kenno posts his comic, but patrons can also set a cap on how much they give each month. That way, if Kenno decides to post 70 more strips one month than he normally does, his patrons aren’t stuck spending a lot more than they thought they would. Also, patrons are only billed once a month, no matter how many times the artist provides new content.

So here’s the question: I’m trying to decide which of these two methods is better. Per Month or Per Page? What do you guys think? Also, if you look at the site you’ll see that several artists offer small rewards for higher levels of patronage. I don’t want this to be the kind of thing where only people who pay can get access to extra content, but I’m thinking that stuff like invitations to monthly Google+ hangouts, live draw events or sketches might be cool incentives. I’m open to suggestions. Similarly, if you look at the site you’ll see lots of stretch goals. Stuff like “If we bring in this much a month I’ll do this”. Again, I’m open to ideas.

– Jake